The science of good and evil : why people cheat, gossip, care, share, and follow the golden rule
From bestselling author Michael Shermer, an investigation of the evolution of morality that is "a paragon of popularized science and philosophy" The Sun (Baltimore) A century and a half after Darwin first proposed an "evolutionary ethics," science has begun to tackle the roots of morality. Just as evolutionary biologists study why we are hungry (to motivate us to eat) or why sex is enjoyable (to motivate us to procreate), they are now searching for the very nature of humanity. In The Science of Good and Evil, science historian Michael Shermer explores how humans evolved from social primates to moral primates; how and why morality motivates the human animal; and how the foundation of moral principles can be built upon empirical evidence. Along the way he explains the implications of scientific findings for fate and free will, the existence of pure good and pure evil, and the development of early moral sentiments among the first humans. As he closes the divide between science and morality, Shermer draws on stories from the Yanamamouml;, infamously known as the "fierce people" of the tropical rain forest, to the Stanford studies on jailers' behavior in prisons. The Science of Good and Evil is ultimately a profound look at the moral animal, belief, and the scientific pursuit of truth
Print Book, English, 2005
1st Owl Books ed View all formats and editions
H. Holt and Co., New York, 2005
xii, 350 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780805077698, 0805077693
57409915
Prologue : one long argument
The origins of morality: Transcendent morality : how evolution ennobles ethics ; Why we are moral : the evolutionary origins of morality ; Why we are immoral : war, violence, and the ignoble savage within ; Master of my fate : making moral choices in a determined universe
A science of provisional ethics: Can we be good without God? : science, religion, and morality ; How we are moral : absolute, relative, and provisional ethics ; How we are immoral : right and wrong and how to tell the difference ; Rise above : tolerance, freedom, and the prospects for humanity
Appendix I: The devil under form of baboon : the evolution of evolutionary ethics
Appendix II: Moral and religious universals as a subset of human universals
"An Owl book."
"Published in hardcover by Times Books in 2004"--Title page verso
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